Canby's 1st game of the 2013 season at Tigard Friday is the 3rd time the teams have met in the past calendar year. The
Cougars and Tigers played each other the 1st week of the 2012 football season in the season opener for both teams at Canby
High School then met just over 2 months later in the 2nd round of OSAA class 6A football playoffs at Tigard High School. In
the 1st meeting a year ago Tigard came in to Canby and squared off with a familar face in quarterback Sam Stelk who had transfered
to CHS from Tigard during the summer of 2012. The Tigers jumped out to a big 30-6 lead and went on to win the game 40-13.
In November both teams won their 1st round playoff games to set up the re-match that was played at Tigard High School by virtue
of the Tigers having a better record than the Cougars. Tigard overwhelmingly dominated the playoff contest and ran away with
a 42-14 win that eliminated Canby from the playoffs and ended their season. Now with the 2013 season opener at Tigard, CHS
is picking up right where they left off last season except with much more promise of a better outcome this time around. While
Tigard is coming into the game as a top 10 team again, Canby is now a top 10 team themselves. Tigard is currently ranked 6th
in the Oregon 6A High School football rankings and CHS is currently ranked 9th meaning, on paper at least, the matchup is
virtually a toss up heading into it this time around. A large crowd is expected for the game between two great teams with
alot of history against each other. Canby and Tigard also played each other every year when CHS was with Tigard in the Pacific
Conference from 1998 until 2010. Since 2010 Canby has played in the Three Rivers League. Both teams won their share of those
Pacific Conference games they had against each other with many of them deciding the league champion and league playoff seeding.
In some ways the games over the past year have been a renewel of their league rivalry. Given all the history between the two
teams, nothing short of a close, highly competitive game is expected Friday Night.

This week's game against Tigard is Canby's 1st non- League game of 2013. The Cougars start the year with 4 non-league
games before starting Three Rivers League play that ultimately determines their early playoff schedule. At this time of year
CHS is focused on getting the season off to a good start and playing as good as possible now which will help improve their
state playoff seeding come November when playoff seeds are announced.

CHS went 2-4 non-league, 4-1 in Three Rivers League play, and 6-5 overall last year. CHS was the #2 team in the TRL and
lost at Tigard in the 2nd round of the 2012 OSAA 6a Football Playoffs. This year looks to one of Canby's best in many years.
The Cougars have talented running backs Sam Bodine and Dominic Shorter leading the offense behind one of the biggest lines
Canby has ever had. Converted receiver Austin Taylor will be the Cougars starting quarterback and will mainly be asked to
manage the CHS ground attack and be a leader in the huddle. Defensively the Cougars will be anchored by their big front line.
Bodine is Canby's best Linebacker and can stop the run and cover the passing game extremely well. He is 1 of the most highly
recruited CHS players since 1998 when 6 foot 8 TE Nate Wente who choose BYU among many D1 options he had. Bodine already has
an offer from Portland State.

In 2012 tigard went 8-1 in the regular season and won their 2nd straight Pacific Conference title. In the OSAA 6A state
playoffs the Tigers won 3 games to make the semi-finals for the 1st time since 2003, the year they won the state title. In
the semi-final round they lost to runner-up Lake Oswego to end their 2012 season. Tigard lost their 3 running backs who were
all-Pacific Conference players including Zach Floyd to graduation. Floyd had 314 yards in the Tigers playoff win over Canby.
Rather than rebuild after losing those guys, the Tigers have reloaded. They have 2 running backs in Manu Rasmussen and A.J.
Hotchkins that could easily put up similar numbers as their top trio of backs did last year. They also have 16 players returning
with regular varsity expierience. After depending on the run so much last year Tigard has worked on their passing game which
could mean a more balanced offense this season. Coming into this season Tigard has made the playoffs every year since 1997
and are 22-3 since 2011. The team is even hungrier for success and has even higher expectations than they did last year.

There is added incentive for Canby and Tigard to collect as many regular season wins as possible in order to improve their
State Playoff draw. The top teams in each league of Oregon's Class 6A level football division get automatic byes to the 1st
round. After the lower teams in each league play a play-in game to qualify for the 1st round, the OSAA uses a system to rank
the 32 first round teams to determine playoff seeding each year. Every team's game results and schedule strengths effects
their ranking. The better the ranking, the better they are seeded. The higher seeded teams get the easiest draws and the lower
seeded teams get thd hardest draws. Both teams wouldnt mind improving their OSAA ranking at least a little with a win tonight.

Canby Coach Mike Vaught is 16-15 since taking over in 2010. Prior to 2010 Vaught was a CHS assistant for 18 years under
former head coach Mike Doty.

Tigard head coach Craig Ruecker is in his 5th year at Tigard. He has been coaching for 42 years. Ruecker has also been
head coach at Glencoe and Redmond.

Next up:
after the Tigard game Canby plays at home vs McNary of Keizer.

Site and Broadcasts produced by Canby Freelance Sports reporter and CHS alumnus Jason Cobarrubias.